Why a Belgian filmmaker has been walking on all fours for three years

A Belgian-born documentary filmmaker is making waves with her videos of running on all fours in outdoor settings. The new fitness trend has taken over the internet, where people adopt their inner animals through walking on all fours.  

Alexia Kraft de la Saulx is among the fans of quadrobics, which has people channelling their inner cat or bear. However, these fitness enthusiasts insist that they are different from therianthropy, a community of people who identify as nonhuman.  

Let’s take a closer look.  

What is quadrobics?

Quadrobics is a growing online trend that involves people moving on all fours. The practice first made headlines in 2008 when Japanese sprinter Kenichi Ito set a world record for sprinting on all fours.  

Those following the trend say it promotes fitness, strength, mobility, and spirituality. Videos of people crawling, leaping and bounding on all fours have gained traction on the internet.  

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Quadrobics is part of the wider “ancestral” or “primal” wellness trends, as per Independent.  

Supporters say the unorthodox workout is more about pushing one’s physical limits than pretending to be animals.  

“It’s definitely a full-body workout,” Soleil, known as wild.soleil on social media, told The New York Post.  

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“I’ve actually lost a lot of weight since I started doing it, and I really see the definition in my body,” she added. “I started getting a six-pack. Try it for five minutes and you will be out of breath."

Belgian filmmaker walking on all fours  

Belgian documentary filmmaker Alexia Kraft de la Saulx has been practising quadrobics for three years. Her videos on Instagram show her running on all fours through meadows, climbing trees barefoot, and crawling on roads.  

“I feel like it’s such an interesting way to explore and to play around with movement and with identity, but I don’t identify myself as a therian,’ Alexia told The New York Post.

“I’m just a being that enjoys moving and playing around and feeling this primal instinct when I’m outdoors,” she added.

The filmmaker discovered quadrobics in 2021 when she met Victor Manuel Fleites Escobar, founder of the Tarzan Movement, a primal movement offshoot.  

Fleites Escobar taught her to move on all fours, climb trees, and swing from trees.  

She developed “very thick soles” when training barefoot, as her feet adapted to the terrain. Alexia recalled she felt sore or exhausted almost every day during the first six months.  

“I could definitely see the difference, physically, in my body,” she told the outlet. “I was like, “Wow, I really look strong”."

Her unusual workout includes quadrupedal movement – crawling, running, and moving on both hands and feet.  

“It’s about remembering what it felt like before we sat in chairs all day,” she said in one of her posts. “We’ve forgotten how to move with curiosity."

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Pros and cons of quadrobics

Research suggests quadrupedal movement can help improve balance, flexibility and core stability. Due to its rhythmic nature, the practice can increase heart rate, which is beneficial for aerobic fitness and health.

Jarrod Nobbe, a personal trainer and USAW national coach, told The New York Post that quadrobics, when combined with proper nutrition, could help develop six packs.  

“Quadrobic movement is a full-body workout, but it really hits the core hard.  You’re constantly engaging your abdominals, obliques and deep stabilisers (like the transverse abdominis) to support your spine and stay balanced,” he added.

“Your shoulders, chest, lats, glutes and quads are also heavily recruited. Because the movement is dynamic and constant, it also elevates your heart rate and helps with fat loss,” Nobbe said.  

But there are limitations.  

Speaking to NDTV, Dr Deepak Kumar Mishra, Director And Head, Orthopaedic And Robotic Joint Replacement Surgery Unit, Asian Hospital said that while such fitness trends have benefits, caution should be maintained.  

“From an orthopaedic standpoint, walking on all fours places the body under unusual biomechanical stress. Unlike the legs, the wrists and shoulders are not meant to bear full body weight during locomotion. Prolonged or repetitive use of such movements can cause wrist pain, shoulder strain, or lower back discomfort, especially in adults unaccustomed to the position,” he warned.  

With inputs from agencies